Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-06-11

and heard-all of which they greatly
magnifed. 1 frequently saw Sims
with a crowd of his neighbors gath
cred around him listening to his
wonderful Stories He would tell
them that dead mems bones were as
plentifully scattered over the ground
around the Stone Fort as were sticks
in Rutherford county, and that the
caves in the banks of the river were
full of human skulls and all manner
of horrid sights. And he would
wind up his talk by saying that
hitherto, when, in reading an author,
he found that the author believed In
anything like ghosts he would throw
the book aside as unworthy of cred
ence, but that now he was convinced
that such things did exist.
The hunters had about six months
in which to explain away their mis-
fortunes, but really to pile up their
calamities. The mail crossing the
mountain from Jasper, passing
through Pelham, on by the Stone
Fort to Murfreesboro, was then called
the mountain mail in the latter place.
On the arrival of the mountain
mail one day the Postmaster, as
usual, unlocked the bag and tumbled
its contents out on the floor, when
one of the first things to attract his
notice was a singular-looking pack
age, the address on which was " Maj.
Sims Ghost" He unwrapped the
ghost a little like a man would now
handle a package of dynamite. The
wrappings being removed, $40 and
behold" he held in his hand a horse
fiddle that is, a sort of notched
paddle with a long string attached to
one end of it.
Rutherford county vas convulsed
with laughter for days, and Col. Ed.
Keeble, a prominent lawyer Of Muir
freesboro, was so amused that he
could hardly hold himself on the
ground. But poor Sims! He was
utterly overwhelmed. He could not
stand it. He sold his farm, and
turned bis face towards the great
West. Missouri was then the farther
West, and thither he directed his
steps. Before leaving he made a
farewell speech in the courthouse in
MurfreesborO, taking leave of his
} old friends and constituents. / heard
the speech. Sims was sad. The
weather was cloudy and gloomy, and
altogether it was a sad occasion.
: Having reached Missouri, the
Major felt that he had escaped from
all of his troubles, and he soon re-
: gained his natural vivacity and ener.
gy of character, and being a man OF
pleasing address, he in a short time
: became. very popular in his new
home. And his triumph over the
misfortunes of the past seemed com
: plete when, in. only a year or so after
= his arrival, he was elected to the
United States Congress. But, alas
Y how soon was his triumph turned
9 into irretrievable disaster.
Maj. Sims. was a Jacksonian Demo
crat. Political prejudices were very
strong in those times. When Col
e Mica Taul, of Winchester, Tenn.
who was a strong Wing, saw tina
Maj. Sims was elected to Congress
t from Missouri, he wrote a letter II
!, Niles Intelligencer in Washington
n which was then the organ of thu
e Wing party, giving the editor an &C
n count of Sims trouble at the ole
: Stone Fort in this State, and suggest
ed that he should keep the letter OF
v file, so that if Sims should ever get t,
splurging too much in Congress h
could take him down by reportin!
e the Stone Fort affair.
Sims remained quiet in Congress
until near the close of the session
le when he concluded that it would no
y do to go home without having mad
a speech and letting his constituent
n hear from him in that way.
h At that time there was a goo,
II deal Of excitement in. the countr,
about the Oregon boundary line
g Great Britain claimed territory tina
h the United States held as her own
he and there was agood deal of talk {
IS war betweent the two countries abou
he the matter. This question suited tn
81 Major exactly, as he was very patri
"a otto, and he made a flaming speec
rs advocating the driving of the BIRTHS
Of out Of Oregon at all hazards, conclut
ing his speech with the p~ropositio
" that if the Government could nc
ii drive the British out of the countr